NMAT by GMAC: What the change means for MBA aspirants?

 

 

 

 

Graduate Management Admission Council’s (GMAC) acquisition of NMIMS Management Aptitude Test (NMAT) has raised a series of questions among MBA aspirants. What changes will be incorporated in the exam? Will the paper pattern change? Like GMAT, will NMAT scores be used for admission to international B-Schools?

To find out the answers, Shiksha.com spoke to Ashish Bhardwaj, Vice President - Asia Pacific, GMAC.

For starters, Bhardwaj informed us that there’ll be no change in NMAT exam pattern in 2015. NMAT by GMAC will continue to be a two-hour test with three sections in language skills, quantitative skills and logical reasoning.

However, the exam pattern will witness a gradual change in the future. Some of the exam enhancements or changes may include offering the test for more than the current 75-day exam window and introducing more test centers for easy accessibility. GMAC is also working towards more business schools accepting NMAT by GMAC so that more candidates can take the entrance test. All these changes will be gradually introduced via a planned roadmap.

There’s one crucial change which will be introduced this year (2015). According to Bhardwaj, a more secure and online score receiving interface is being implemented ‘towards enhancing the quality and efficiency of admissions processes through NMAT by GMAC’.

This is the first ever acquisition of an existing exam by GMAC worldwide. NMAT by GMAT scores will now be accepted by the following institutes/universities:

• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS)
• Alliance University
• SRM University
• BML Munjal University
• VIT University
• ICFAI Business School (IBS)
• Ansal University

There’s no immediate expansion plan of NMAT by GMAC in international markets. But it may be introduced in some emerging markets in the future.

Read below, the complete interview excerpt of Ashish Bhardwaj with Shiksha.com.

 

1. Will there be any change in exam/test pattern?

For this year, the format of the two hour test, which includes section on language skills, quantitative skills and logical reasoning, will remain unchanged.

In future, we will certainly look to make any improvements to the exam that will result in making it easier to prepare for and take, easier to access and that make the NMAT a more significant part of attracting and admitting more students to graduate management programs.  If that means making changes to the exam itself, we will only do so in ways that are clearly communicated to students and schools and that adhere to those ideas around accessibility and growing management education to the benefit of schools and students. 

 

2. What are the ‘additional features’ that will be incorporated to enhance the test-taker experience?  Will the changes be implemented in 2015?

For this year, the format of the two hour test, which includes three sections; language skills, quantitative skills and logical reasoning, will remain unchanged. One significant value add that would be introduced this year is a secure and online score receiving interface for business schools that use NMAT by GMAC scores for admissions decisions. This is an important first step in GMAC’s commitment towards enhancing the quality and efficiency of admissions processes through NMAT by GMAC. 

In future years, we will build a roadmap for introducing enhancements, based on research with candidates as well as business schools, designed to attract and enable a more diverse pool of candidates to access the NMAT by GMAC and help business schools to attract more candidates to their graduate management programs.

You can expect GMAC to:

• Explore the possibility of offering the test in an expanded testing period beyond the current 75 days
• Explore the development of NMAT by GMAC prep materials to help students perform at their best on the exam
• Deploy more test centers so that the NMAT by GMAC is more accessible
• Work with more schools to accept NMAT by GMAC scores so candidates have more opportunities to access graduate management education

Our goal is to create an ‘industry standard’ test that effectively meets the needs of more business schools and more candidates.

 

3. Will there be any difference to the psychometrics of the design? Can you explain it further?

The NMAT is a high quality and well-designed exam. If we introduce changes to the exam, it will be to help candidates best demonstrate their skills and to help business schools best understand how a candidate’s skills are suited to the school’s particular management program.  Most important, should we make changes, we will communicate those clearly to students and develop the prep materials they can use to perform at their best on the NMAT by GMAC exam.

 

4. Why did GMAC acquire NMAT?

NMAT is a well-designed and high quality Computer Based test. It is noteworthy that the NMAT candidate pool offers significant diversity to business schools;
> 35% women and > 37% non-engineers test takers.

The leadership at NMIMS University shares GMAC’s vision of creating an admission test for the Indian management education market that would make management programs accessible to a more diverse pool of candidates. All of these factors played an important role in GMAC’s decision to take over the management and ownership of the NMAT.

 

5. Will NMAT exam be offered to MBA aspirants in other nations?

 The NMAT exam has been designed for use in the India domestic market.  While we believe it may with some variations and modifications have applicability in other markets, it is not of the same broad applicability or global nature as the GMAT exam. If in managing the NMAT by GMAC we learn that it has applicability in other markets, we will look at what that would mean for both candidates and schools in those markets and decide appropriately. It is possible that NMAT by GMAC could have relevance in addressing the needs of graduate management education in some emerging markets and we will explore that.  For the moment, our commitment is to make NMAT by GMAC more accessible to more candidates and accepted for admissions to the management programs of more business schools in India.

 

6. Is this the first exam acquisition for GMAC? Does GMAC plan to acquire more exams?

Yes, the NMAT is GMAC’s first acquisition of an existing exam.

For several years (nearly a decade now) GMAC has been actively pursuing a strategy of international expansion of GMAT usage by candidates and business schools, GMAC’s membership, products and business activity. This strategy – expressed here in the acquisition of the NMAT exam (now NMAT by GMAC) – is at the heart  of GMAC’s mission, its future and its commitment to serving the graduate management education community of both candidates and business schools. We will continue to work towards fulfilling that commitment.

 

7. Will NMAT be merged with GMAT exam later on?

These tests are different and also serve different needs of the markets; candidates as well as business schools. There will be complementary aspects and benefits of our operating both exams. Of course, we will learn from managing the NMAT and will surely apply that learning across much of what we do on behalf of candidates and schools.